Culvert.



0. E. DEPPEN.

' GULVEBT.

urmonow FILED SEPT. 12, 1911.

1,01'0,875. a Patented'Dea, 1911.

ATORNEYS UNITED .STATES PATENT OFFICE,

,o'r'ro E. DEPPEN, OF'CHATTANOOGA; 'rmmnssnn CULVEBT.

.Speciflcatioi o! Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 54911..`

i Application filed September 12, 1911. Serial No. 648363. i r

To allwhom #may concer n:

Be it known that I, O''ro E. mmm, a

" citizen ,of the United States, and a resident-of Chattanooga, in the county of Hamilton and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and Improved Culvert, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact descrip- -tion.

My invention relates to culverts and it has for its object to provide vitrified clay culverts with means by which they may be quickly and cheaply held relatively to each other, thereby doing away with the necesbell holes in the bottom sity of cutting for receiving thebells and of the' trench other members now used for uniting culvert members. t

Additional objects of the invention will appear in`the following complete specification, in which the preferredform of the invention is disclosed.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, in which- Figure 1 is an elevation, partially in sec tion, showing vitrified clay culverts, andthe means which I provide for holding them together. Fig. 2 s an end view' of one of the -culverts; Fg 3 is a sectional view on the *ig. 4; and Fig.-4 is a sectional" view on the line 4-4 of Fig'. 3.

Vitrified clay pipo is recognized as the' best material for use in the construction'of cu-1verts,-because when it is properly laid` it is permanent. However, clay pipe is ordinarly made with bells or sockets to form the joints, and in order to properly lay the pipe it is necessary to form a bed in the trench having bell holes so that the body of the pipe will lie fiat in the trench and the bells or other projecting members may be disposed in the bell holes If this is not done the value of the vitrified clay pipe as a culvert is' greatly impaired. It also happens, in some cases, that the foundation` at the end ofa culvert is washed a'way,

allowing the last section of the pipe to-slip 'away from the next pipe in the culvert,

which destroys the usefulness of the culvert until' repairs are made. In order to overcome these objections I have provided a' vitrified clay culvert with a means which I e will now describe for holding the members of the vitrified clay culvert together without the necessity of forming any bell holes nthe trench in which the' culvert members are laid. v v 7 The vitrified culvert members shown in the drawings are made without bells or sockets and provided with oppositely disposed or fices 6 at their terminals in which disposedwbolts 7 having shoulders 8, which 'are t are disposed at the outer side of. the' culvert members, there bei eye members 9 which are integral with t e shoulders 8. These' bolts 7 areheld in place by`nuts 10 which engage the bolts 7 at the, inner side of the vitrified culvert members 5.' As shown in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings, I prefer to provide packing members 11 and 12, the packing members 11 being disposed between the shoulder 8 and the outer sde of the culvert member` 5, and the packing member 12 being disposed between the nut 10 and the inner sde of the culvert member '5. These packing members 11 and-12 prevent any` leakage through the orifices 6 when the nuts are secured inplace the orifices 6, 'as has been described, the ends of adj acent vitrified 10 are turned home. When the eye bolts 7 clay members are held together by means of the'bolts 13, which are disposed .through the eyes in the eye members* 9, nuts 14 being provided for engaging the said bolts '13 for drawing the eye members 9 in the direction ofeach other until the ends of the adjacent vitrfied clay members are brought together.

It will be seen that with my improvement the vitrified clay members may be used successfully without necessitating the forming of bell holes in the bottom of'the trench and that there is also no danger of the end `culvert members being displaced by the washing away of their foundation at the bottom of the trench. The culvert members in their fastenings may bemanufactured at little expense, and may be Secured together with little trouble.

Having thusidescribed my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent: e i

Clay culvert members, sockets, having ends with orifices throu h their sides at their said ends, eye bolts disposed in the orifices with the eyes wthout the culvert members, and shoulders on the without bells or outer ende of the bolts, nuts on the inner In testimony whereof I have signed my terminals of the bolts for drawngthe bolts name to this specification in the presence inward with the shoulders pressing against of two subscrbng witnesses.

the outer side of the culvert members, and OTTO E. DEPPEN. 5 bolts disposed on the outer ends of the eye witnesses:

bolts on adjacent culvert members for hold J; A. ROONEY,

A ing the culvert members together. Emmy GILL. 

